From Pyramids to Promises - Sermon notes from Exodus

Strike the rock

Exodus 17:1-7

Human nature has never really changed, we've advanced so far beyond those who came before us that we think we're so much better than them. But while we have made great advances are we really better than them? Modern society is better in some ways to the past but has our human nature changed? The desire to lie, steal and cheat, it's the exact same today as it was back then.

1. Hearts of stone

Deuteronomy 6:16 - "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah". The events of exodus aren't just confined to the history books, they are lessons for us to learn from the Israelites mistakes. Let's not test the Lord but humbly rely on Him.

Hebrews 3:7-12 - "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God."

The actual issue isn't that they've run out of water and are thirsty, or that they grumble, it's their hearts. That's the reason why they grumble and these three tests are given to them from God.

It can be easy to see an act and try to correct it but sometimes these things go way deeper, you shouldn't treat the symptoms, treat the disease. We need to get to the route of the problem not just the surface, the grumbling is just surface level stuff but the core is that they have hard hearts.

Some people today will say things like: "I'll only believe in God if he writes across the sky 'I'm real'". Or maybe they'll ask to see some sort of lightning or miraculous display, but if they got what they'd asked for would they really believe and follow through?

Many people with these thoughts are not actually sincere in saying this, they've already made up their mind. "It's just an accident or a freak of nature, someone must be playing tricks on me". No matter what is shown after asking, these people will try and find any justifiable excuse for it, and if they can't find one then that's good enough for them.

The reason people reject Jesus isn't because they're waiting for him to write across the sky but because they have hard hearts. People know that if they believe in God they now have to deal with their sin and see just how bad they really are. They keep their hearts hardened and don't want any part of it because they are controlled by their sin.

What greater sign could you ask for than the death and resurrection of Jesus. These Israelites witnessed incredible signs but still their hearts were hardened. No sign could undo it.

2. Water from the Rock

What a miracle it was for water to pour out of a rock, there were no tricks like a spring behind it, it was all God's mighty work. But what's more incredible is that this stream of water flowing from a rock speaks to us about the living water that flows from THE ROCK - Christ Jesus.

1 Samuel 2:2 - "There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God." This is just one of many verses where we hear of God being the Rock. God is the source for this water, everything good comes from Him.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 - "For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ."

This is another verse to show that Jesus is God in our scripture. We know Christ is the rock but notice how Moses strikes this rock with his staff. What is this staff? Throughout exodus Moses has been striking things or pointing his staff for miracles like when he parted the Red Sea. This staff has been the tool Moses used every time God decided to bring judgment. With this weapon of judgment Moses strikes the rock, which we know as Christ.

John 19:31-34 - "Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water."

Why did it have to be the staff that was used to open the rock? - Voice command would have worked just fine. The reason is that Jesus Christ, the solid rock on which we can build our lives, was placed to die on that wooden cross, and as he lays there to die he is struck by a spear. All of the suffering and sin is on Christ and blood and water poured out from Him as his body was broken through the blood and water.

The Israelites could live because the rock was struck, but when THE ROCK was struck we can now live and have eternal life through him.

"Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."" - John‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬.

4,000 years since that rock was struck in the desert and 2,000 after Jesus was struck we're still invited to receive this water. Let us come to the fountain and drink the living water, there is no cost for us to drink as Jesus has already paid it all.

The Israelites moaned and grumbled but as they drank their water they had no reason more to grumble, now with a hope and a home in the promised land. We've been given freedom and received the bread of life and living water, what more can God give us? He gave us His beloved Son in which there is no greater gift. Why would we ever grumble again?

Let's not harden our hearts, let's drink from the Rock.

26/3/23 Evening